SC slams Centre, states over night shelters; forms panel

The Supreme Court today slammed the Centre and state governments for lackadaisical approach in providing night shelters to the poverty-stricken in urban areas despite availability of sufficient funds and set up a committee to verify their availability.
"Yet another winter approaches and enough has not been done for protection of many homeless in our towns/cities," a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said while expressing concern over the slow progress in providing night shelters.
"In spite of the availability of funds and a clear mechanism through which to disburse them, there was an extremely unsatisfactory state of affairs on the ground.

"A careful consideration of the submissions of parties and the material on record discloses that the destitute in urban areas continue to suffer without shelters," the bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, said.
It noted that the Centre has been constantly claiming steady progress but National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) report suggests to the contrary.
"Providing the requisite infrastructure is only the first step. Thereafter the other facilities have to be provided and proper maintenance of the shelter homes has to be ensured. The mission of National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) scheme remains a distant dream even after lapse of a long period," the bench said.

The bench directed that a Committee headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice Kailash Gambhir be constituted to verify the availability of night shelters, if they are in compliance of the operational guidelines under NULM and to inquire into the reasons for slow progress in setting up of shelter homes by the States/Union Territories.

"Committee shall further inquire about non-utilisation and/or diversion/misutilisation of funds allocated for the Scheme for providing shelters to the urban homeless.
Other members of the committee shall include an officer
of Joint Secretary cadre from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to be deputed by the Centre and an officer, serving or retired, and from the Delhi Judicial Service to be nominated by the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in consultation with the Chairperson of the Committee as members.

The bench also held the states responsible for not implementing the scheme despite having huge amount of money released by Centre.
"The Union of India has formulated a Scheme and released huge amounts of money to state governments. The States are responsible for the implementation of the Scheme. The reasons for non-utilisation of funds for the welfare scheme are not forthcoming," it said.
The National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) was launched in September 2013 to reduce poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households.